Key facts:
The operators point out that the service was blocked for the country without prior notice.
Dapper Labs, the company behind NBA Top Shot, set up a service channel.
Fans of NBA Top Shot sports NFTs, residents of Venezuela, denounced that the platform does not allow them to withdraw their cryptocurrencies. The situation would have originated after the service suspended access from the South American country, according to the affected users informed CriptoNoticias.
One of them is César Guzmán, 38, who since January of this year has been a user of NBA Top Shot, a market for non-fungible tokens (NFT), in video format, with plays from the American basketball league. The collector indicated that in April the page was blocked for Venezuela and that since then you cannot withdraw your funds.
The young man, a resident of the city of Puerto Ordaz, said that he has contacted the support team on several occasions to withdraw his cryptocurrencies, but it has not yet been possible. Guzmán also used a VPN service to access his account and try to get his money back.
However, at the moment of validating the operation with protocols of «Know your client», or KYC for its acronym in English, a menu is displayed in which you must select your country. The problem is that Venezuela does not appear on the list.
When trying to enter the NBA Top Shot page from Venezuela, this message appears informing that the website is blocked in the country. Source: NBA Top Shot.
«I sent funds in ethers to NBA Top Shot to buy some NFTs that they call ‘moments’. Then I started selling them without any news. The problem arose when they suddenly blocked connections from Venezuela. What they allege is that the country had to be blocked from the beginning ”, explained the merchant who has a collection of 13 ‘moments’ and money that he cannot withdraw.
The user assured that now he can not sell the ‘moments‘, that is, the NFTs in your collection are in your profile, however, you cannot perform operations with them. “I have my money trapped, what I need is to withdraw the funds,” added the NBA enthusiast.
Complaints about the situation with NBA Top Shot and Venezuelan users are also on social networks and other messaging services. On Twitter the trader @Jahlexis_TafarI posted the following message on August 2:
Hi there. I need help. Several weeks ago, Dapper warned me that I had to do KYC. I do not have any problem with that. I went to Dapper, I started the KYC process, but I cannot pass because I am in Venezuela. I really need help, I can’t do anything in NBA Top Shot. I want to buy, please help me.
Response from Dapper Labs, NBA Top Shot company.
CriptoNoticias contacted the support team of Dapper Labs, the company behind NBA Top Shot, to find out what the situation is with Venezuelan users. In a message sent to this newspaper on Sunday, August 22, the company said that the platform does not offer support to operators resident in the country.
Dapper Labs promised to help affected users and channel the withdrawal of funds. They offered two alternatives: return the money through bank transfers in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. Those who do not have accounts in these countries should contact the Dapper Labs support team to process cryptocurrency payments. According to its website, requested withdrawals are processed in the USDC stablecoin.
«Our list of prohibited countries remains in our terms of service that each user is obliged to acknowledge and accept, before creating an account with Dapper. However, we are committed to helping users who may have inadvertently created an account from Venezuela, “explained Oscar Lyons, representative of the support department.
NBA Top Shot has rapidly gained popularity on a global scale for offering NFT from one of the most followed sports leagues, professional basketball in the United States. Its own stars have invested millions of dollars to promote this project of tokenization of historical plays and others of relevance, a fact reported by CriptoNoticias.